[Legendary Games] Treasury of the Macabre - "home page" cover design example


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Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

We talk a lot about using a “home page” cover instead of a traditional cover for electronic products. In fact, if you want to check out my blog on what I think an electronic product should contain, you can follow this LINK.

Well, here is an example of a draft (not final) of our cover for Treasury of the Macabre, which uses the "home page cover" concept. You can see the front page has links to all the items and links to external sources. Each interior page has a button to take you back to this front page for ease of navigation.

Here's a LINK to the cover image for you to check it out!

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.

Clark


Nice looking and innovative stuff here, Clark! I especially like your ideas about e-products and that talisman on the cover is very Wayne Reynolds-y (not surprisingly).

Bret

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I like it and the stuff inside it, but then you already knew that. :)

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Thanks guys. Keep the discussion flowing. What things would you like to see for a functional electronic product on the cover/home page?

I want our design to change and evolve to respond to the needs of the table top gamer.

Clark


Wow Clark! You might single handedly make me prefer PDF over print with this!


Whats your pricing on PDF's going to be? I'll pay now to let me play around with it before it is finalized. Best way for me to give any real feedback anyways. ITs one thing to look at a picture of something and try to figure out how it works, and totally something else to play with it and actually make it work.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32

Why not just have a cover, then do that with the ToC?

That looks... really cluttered.


Clark Peterson wrote:
What things would you like to see for a functional electronic product on the cover/home page?

I'm assuming every one of those names is a link. Is there a way to make pictures - for items with unique pictures, that is - appear if you hover over the link? Many people are much better at retaining visual information - "It was on the page with the wavey sword that was on fire" - than numbers ("Page 88") or text ("Sword of Kick-Buttery").

Further - although you only asked about the title - everything in the item's description that <can> be hyperlinked to ... well, just about anything, <should> be. Mentions of races (or monsters) or classes; spells; skills or abilities; other product(s); conditions; curses; all of it. If the weapon entangles, it links to the condition; if it acts like Cause Fear, it links to the spell; if it's bane vs Orcs, it links to orcs.

Also, while I realize it's terrible advertising, I'd personally - if I bought the PDF - think the glaring links to elsewhere on the front cover were annoying. I'll grant that they're all useful links; maybe it's just that they seem emphasized; the visual emphasis seems to be on the "links to elsewhere" area, instead of the "list of awesome stuff inside this document".

I'm eager to see one of your finished PDF products. I'm maybe a little disapppointed it's a "simple" list-type product instead of a more complex and inter-related type of product like an adventure, because that's where I think the willingness to truly innovate and expand the nature of PDFs would have the best results.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Ben Kent wrote:

I'm assuming every one of those names is a link. Is there a way to make pictures - for items with unique pictures, that is - appear if you hover over the link? Many people are much better at retaining visual information - "It was on the page with the wavey sword that was on fire" - than numbers ("Page 88") or text ("Sword of Kick-Buttery").

Further - although you only asked about the title - everything in the item's description that <can> be hyperlinked to ... well, just about anything, <should> be. Mentions of races (or monsters) or classes; spells; skills or abilities; other product(s); conditions; curses; all of it. If the weapon entangles, it links to the condition; if it acts like Cause Fear, it links to the spell; if it's bane vs Orcs, it links to orcs.

Also, while I realize it's terrible advertising, I'd personally - if I bought the PDF - think the glaring links to elsewhere on the front cover were annoying. I'll grant that they're all useful links; maybe it's just that they seem emphasized; the visual emphasis seems to be on the "links to elsewhere" area, instead of the "list of awesome stuff inside this document".

I'm eager to see one of your finished PDF products. I'm maybe a little disapppointed it's a "simple" list-type product instead of a more complex and inter-related type of product like an adventure, because that's where I think the willingness to truly innovate and expand the nature of PDFs would have the best results.

Some good suggestions.

First, we have two adventures in the works and the maps will have locations numbers that link to the text. Not sure we can pull off the multi-layered maps that Paizo just put in their AP with Brinewall. They are cool, but in short adventures there's not much that isnt all GM only.

Second, we will be de-emphasizing the list on the right side with different font.

Third, we dont have art for all the items so even if we wanted to we couldnt do the art image thing mentioned above.

Fourth, we cant hyperlink everything. Yes, that would be great. But that is just way too much work with not enough benefit. Most people dont need Initiative hyperlinked, but they may need the new cunning special ability from the Advanced Player's Guide or maybe a link to the defending weapon quality FAQ you can find on PFSRD for instance. I dont think enough people want everything linked to justify the unbelievable amount of time it would take to do that.

Fifth, I don't want to kill my layout guy, Tim.

Clark

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Robert Miller 55 wrote:
Whats your pricing on PDF's going to be? I'll pay now to let me play around with it before it is finalized. Best way for me to give any real feedback anyways. ITs one thing to look at a picture of something and try to figure out how it works, and totally something else to play with it and actually make it work.

Not finally set, but we are thinking $4.99 to 5.99, depending on the product. I need to review what other publishers are doing and what you get for those price points. I totally reject the "app pricing model." I dont intend to make something that is only worth 1.99 and why would you buy it? Gamers are smart and awesome, they dont need whatever someone might sell for a dollar; they can make it themselves. What we make will have value and will be worth paying for. Gamers know the difference. When something is so cheap you have to ask why are you not giving it away for free.

Clark

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Ben Kent wrote:
Further - although you only asked about the title - everything in the item's description that <can> be hyperlinked to ... well, just about anything, <should> be. Mentions of races (or monsters) or classes; spells; skills or abilities; other product(s); conditions; curses; all of it. If the weapon entangles, it links to the condition; if it acts like Cause Fear, it links to the spell; if it's bane vs Orcs, it links to orcs.

The balance I have struck is this: if its in the core rulebook, we aren't hyperlinking to it since most people know that stuff. If it is in another book we will, either to the official Patfinder Reference Document or PFSRD (presuming its in the official PRD we will use that, we always have a preference for the official).

The exception is this: if it is in the core rulebook but the author thinks it would be useful for the GM to review a strange or uncommon rule. For instance, in the adventure by me and Jason, there is a fight with a Tiny creature which has some unique rules that not everyonoe remembers, so it made sense to hyperlink reviewing the rules for Tiny creatures.

That is one of the joys of having total rules studs like Neil, Jason and Greg writing for me--they know when they are using something interesting and when they need to hyperlink to it.


Some of the things you guys are talking about got my mind racing. This style of electronic product, coupled with appropriate files for a VTT, like d20Pro, would be the true evolution of the old boxed sets. The same concept, but brought forward to be truly part of a 21st century game.


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Hmm, I am rather offended that you think that things that doesn't cost a lot is practically worthless. Products from Headless Hydra Games (my company) are fairly cheap, but certainly not because I think they are worthless!

My products have low prices because I'd rather have people buy my stuff than earn a lot of cash! Our products are cheap, but can definitely stand besides the best products on the market.

I am offended by your assumptions that cheap products are cheap because they are poorly made and because gamers could just as easily make them themselves.

- Axel

(I know of other companies who sell their products fairly cheap, yet whose standard is very high - I have also bought plenty of expensive products that did not match that high standard)


Clark Peterson wrote:

The balance I have struck is this: if its in the core rulebook, we aren't hyperlinking to it since most people know that stuff. If it is in another book we will, either to the official Patfinder Reference Document or PFSRD (presuming its in the official PRD we will use that, we always have a preference for the official).

The exception is this: if it is in the core rulebook but the author thinks it would be useful for the GM to review a strange or uncommon rule. For instance, in the adventure by me and Jason, there is a fight with a Tiny creature which has some unique rules that not everyonoe remembers, so it made sense to hyperlink reviewing the rules for Tiny creatures.

First, thank you for firstly making this thread available to us, the fans, and looking for our input. And secondly, thank you for directly replying to me, and giving me a warm fuzzy feeling. It reminds me of that time I swallowed a kitten.

The "balance" you suggest seems to match what I anticipated*. I'd suggest it's worth being overly-generous with the links rather than not having enough of them - as you say, a link to initiative probably isn't required (if you're fuzzy on how to roll initiative, mid-adventure might not be the right place to learn), but a link to a spell (for a spell-like ability), or an activation-based magic item - even the "classic" spells like fireball - probably won't go amiss.

Again, I'm very interested to see it - but even more interested in adventures set up under your electronic-document format (...which I also think you need a name for - may I suggest Legendary Documents?).

* - It's not quite what I <suggested>, but there was hyperbole involved in saying "link everything".

Liberty's Edge

Certainly an interesting approach! I'm anxious to see the final product!

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Brekkil wrote:

Hmm, I am rather offended that you think that things that doesn't cost a lot is practically worthless. Products from Headless Hydra Games (my company) are fairly cheap, but certainly not because I think they are worthless!

My products have low prices because I'd rather have people buy my stuff than earn a lot of cash! Our products are cheap, but can definitely stand besides the best products on the market.

I am offended by your assumptions that cheap products are cheap because they are poorly made and because gamers could just as easily make them themselves.

- Axel

(I know of other companies who sell their products fairly cheap, yet whose standard is very high - I have also bought plenty of expensive products that did not match that high standard)

Don't be offended. I think you are reading more into my comment than I am intending. I was asked what the price point will be, I answered, and said I don't embrace "app pricing" which means intentionally undercharging to generate additional sales.

I just don't embrace the app pricing model. You are free to do so. That's your call. I'm not saying anything about inexpensive products that are properly priced (other than it is always a wise question to ask: "if this is its actual value, and that value is $1, do people really need to buy it and can't they just make it"). I mention this only because there was recently some discussion about this idea of eproducts using an "app pricing model" and I think that is a mistake. But again, I sure can't tell you what to do, nor am I commenting on your products in any way.

My question to you is this: if its worth $5 why charge $2? That makes sense when you are selling Angry Birds to 5,000,000 users and think the lower price means more sales sufficient to justify the marginal reduction, but not when you are selling to the small group of possible Pathfinder purchasers. You just don't reach those economies of scale. Heck, even when d20 was at its height we didn't have economies of scale that warranted that.

When you make a product that has a very low price point you have to ask this: (1) is it underpriced, and if so why is it underpriced; and why not just charge what it is worth; and (2) if it is not underpriced, and is actually worth $2, then what is the gamer actually getting for $2? Is it worth their time? Is it not something they can just make themselves?

If you have satisfactory answers to both in your mind, then price it low and sell the hell out of it!

Plus, like I said, gamers are really, really smart and if you make good stuff they will pay for it. And it doesnt even necessarily correlate with super glossy production values. In fact, in my experience, gamers will pay $10 for a really cool product made with tons of passion and love with some marginal production values before they will pay $10 for a glossy piece of corporate schlock with no soul and obviously not even made by real gamers.

Believe me, I understand what you are saying. You may not know, but I started Necromancer Games by GIVING AWAY FOR FREE the Wizard's Amulet. It won an Ennie and I never ever charged for it. You can still get it for free. So I understand the desire to charge (or not charge) something other than what I think the actual market price of the item is. But I did that for a reason--no one knew who the hell I was and I looked at it as a "publisher's business card" so to speak so that fans could see what I was about. It worked great.

I didn't say cheap products are poorly made or bad. They may just be underpriced.

Clark

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Ben Kent wrote:


* - It's not quite what I <suggested>, but there was hyperbole involved in saying "link everything".

You and I will get along great :) I've been accused of that in the past myself.

Clark


Clark Peterson wrote:
I didn't say cheap products are poorly made or bad. They may just be underpriced.

Just wondering, one business type to another, how do you feel about the freemium business model?

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

LMPjr007 wrote:
Clark Peterson wrote:
I didn't say cheap products are poorly made or bad. They may just be underpriced.
Just wondering, one business type to another, how do you feel about the freemium business model?

Tell me exactly what you mean by that so I can make sure we are discussing the same thing. Then I'll be happy to tell you.

If you mean giving stuff away for free, there is a HUGE benefit to that in some instances. I did it with Wizard's Amulet, as detailed above and it worked great for me.

BUT I generally believe you simply make something that is valuable, determine what that value is, and charge people that fair value and they will pay it.

There are very few times to deviate from that, such as (1) charging less as a loss leader to attract other business (see, e.g., ATT and Verizon selling iphones and ipads at a loss or subsidizing them in some way to draw cell business; or game console companies selling the console at less than their proper price; but that is often a market share issue that we don't have in the game industry) or (2) underprice items to sell more, when you have proper economies of scale such that the anticipated additional sales exceed the collective marginal price reduction (i.e.: selling 1000 at $3 is better than selling 100 at $5; but it is NOT better to sell 150 at $3 if you could have sold 100 at $5, so you better be right about how many extra you think you will sell as a result of the lower price) or (3) you have some other reason to underprice, such as an introductory product for you to use as both a product and as advertising (as I did with Wizard's Amulet).


Clark Peterson wrote:
Tell me exactly what you mean by that so I can make sure we are discussing the same thing. Then I'll be happy to tell you.

Sure! In the sense you have one product that has two "versions" of it. Version #1 is a full complete product with everything the topic covers in it. Version #2 is a free or low cost version that has 15 -20% of the material in the Version #1. Version #2 is made for people to "test out" the product before investing a lot of money into to buying it. Anyone who purchased Version #2 gets a coupon equal to the cost of the Version #2 which they can use on getting a discounted price of Version #1. That is what I mean.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

Somewhere I remember seeing a blog that looked at a bunch of data from One Book Shelf. It seemed like $10 was a surprisingly good sweet spot for PDF sales. I wish I could find the link, but I think it was buried in my G+ feed a few weeks ago.

The problem with PDFs (as with software) is that a product has a set initial cost that is then divided among all sales. So if your PDF costs $100 to produce, selling 100 copies at $3 might be good enough. If your PDF costs $500 to produce, you need to have a higher price or a higher volume.

As a particular PDF publisher starts building a record, they can base these things off previous sales. I'm certain that anyone who has been steadily producing PDFs for over year can predict sales of new products in existing lines fairly easily.

I can say that I purchased a hard copy of Eclipse Phase and several PDF adventures based on the strength of their freely available core book PDF. That was a bold move though, and might not work for everyone.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

LMPjr007 wrote:
Clark Peterson wrote:
Tell me exactly what you mean by that so I can make sure we are discussing the same thing. Then I'll be happy to tell you.
Sure! In the sense you have one product that has two "versions" of it. Version #1 is a full complete product with everything the topic covers in it. Version #2 is a free or low cost version that has 15 -20% of the material in the Version #1. Version #2 is made for people to "test out" the product before investing a lot of money into to buying it. Anyone who purchased Version #2 gets a coupon equal to the cost of the Version #2 which they can use on getting a discounted price of Version #1. That is what I mean.

I think that's a great idea but probably way too much bookkeeping :) If you can pull it off, not a bad idea. That said, I'd probably skip all the annoying bookkeeping (because that just says customer service complaints to me) and just do an even shorter freebie preview. I might do that--just layout, say, one page of items from the Treasury so people can see it for free. But I believe in posting freebies and preview stuff. I think it helps people make their decision.


Great blog post Clark. I agree that the PDF format can be much better utilized. For example, it can make artwork a lot more functional; i.e, everytime an NPC is mentioned, integrate that to the NPC statblock as well as graphic which could be a "full display" rather than a smaller embeded piece, the same could be done with maps and locations where a discriptor is linked to a visual.

I think the bigger advantage might be in creating scenarios where Encounter A leads to Encounter B, C, or D and the GM can simly go directly to the resultant scenario based on the outcome of the encounter, rather than flip through a book [i.e., the electronic format could link to the resultant scenarios based on outcome).


Interesting idea, but I don't want to see anything about Facebook on the "cover" of an RPG fantasy PDF. No forums, no webstores, no thanks. Go ahead and make a resources section on the inner cover or ToC or copyright page.

This is going to be difficult to encapsulate in words but my (poor) reaction I think is that modern-day references breaks immersion. I get that huge "Pathfinder" logos isn't really in-character, and an ISBN bar code on the back breaks art with books, but... I don't need more stuff reminding me about the Real World... the one I'm playing a fantasy game to kind of avoid. I feel... like a goof to talk about immersion in the first place, but as we're all gamers I think you'll understand what I'm saying.

Put all the crap on the cover you want that is in-character, but leave the external references somewhere we don't need to see every time we open the document. I understand the exposure the front cover presents, but... please no. I'll just have to fire up Acrobat and remove that stuff, it's that big a turn-off.

Final comment: offering negative feedback on your ideas isn't easy for me. I'd rather be an eternal fanboy, but this one I've got to comment on.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Anguish wrote:

Interesting idea, but I don't want to see anything about Facebook on the "cover" of an RPG fantasy PDF. No forums, no webstores, no thanks. Go ahead and make a resources section on the inner cover or ToC or copyright page.

This is going to be difficult to encapsulate in words but my (poor) reaction I think is that modern-day references breaks immersion. I get that huge "Pathfinder" logos isn't really in-character, and an ISBN bar code on the back breaks art with books, but... I don't need more stuff reminding me about the Real World... the one I'm playing a fantasy game to kind of avoid. I feel... like a goof to talk about immersion in the first place, but as we're all gamers I think you'll understand what I'm saying.

Put all the crap on the cover you want that is in-character, but leave the external references somewhere we don't need to see every time we open the document. I understand the exposure the front cover presents, but... please no. I'll just have to fire up Acrobat and remove that stuff, it's that big a turn-off.

Final comment: offering negative feedback on your ideas isn't easy for me. I'd rather be an eternal fanboy, but this one I've got to comment on.

That is really some very fair commentary. I do understand what you are saying about immersion. And I agree, now that I think about it.

I'm going to have to give that some thought. I really do hear what you are saying and I appreciate that it is hard to offer constructive criticism. But I asked for it and I appreciate it.

I'd like to hear what others think. This thing is going to be live and available probably the end of this week so if people have thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

I am going to give this serious thought. I don't know what I will do, in the end, but you can rest assured I am taking your comments into account in my decision.

Clark


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Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
Anguish wrote:

Interesting idea, but I don't want to see anything about Facebook on the "cover" of an RPG fantasy PDF. No forums, no webstores, no thanks. Go ahead and make a resources section on the inner cover or ToC or copyright page.

I have to disagree. For a product that is all about embracing new digital technology, pretending to be a traditional book sounds like a step backward. We have tons of PDFs that are just copies of books already.

I want innovative products that embrace the digital age. 0one games produces some amazing PDFs that take advantage of all the layers and options you can use.

On the other hand, a PDF that looks just like a web home page? I don't think that is innovative enough. Not that I'm certain where I want it to go, but computer interfaces have grown since the 90s. Haven't they?

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

I have a funny feeling the Facebook link may be the one that is the most jarring.

I am going to think on this. But I might just remove that Facebook link. The others seem a bit less jarring.

Clark


Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

It all looks very wonderful Clark. Can I buy now please? :-)


deinol wrote:
Anguish wrote:

Interesting idea, but I don't want to see anything about Facebook on the "cover" of an RPG fantasy PDF. No forums, no webstores, no thanks. Go ahead and make a resources section on the inner cover or ToC or copyright page.

I have to disagree. For a product that is all about embracing new digital technology, pretending to be a traditional book sounds like a step backward. We have tons of PDFs that are just copies of books already.

I want innovative products that embrace the digital age. 0one games produces some amazing PDFs that take advantage of all the layers and options you can use.

On the other hand, a PDF that looks just like a web home page? I don't think that is innovative enough. Not that I'm certain where I want it to go, but computer interfaces have grown since the 90s. Haven't they?

I agree that it needs to embrace digital technology, and that we don't want a facsimile of a physical book, but I also agree with deinol - I *don't* want to see links to social media or stores, of whatever calibre. Stick it in the inside cover or acknowledgments. Whether it's a physical or digital product, the cover is the store front, it draws you in and should (in my opinion) make you go 'wow, I want some of that.' To my mind a link to Facebook, or anything of that ilk, does immediately break that slightly spellbound feeling, and makes it look as if the product is advertising something, and that - ironically, given the comments above - makes it look cheap.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Jam412 wrote:
It all looks very wonderful Clark. Can I buy now please? :-)

Soon! Jeff is setting up my Legendary Games store here on Paizo.com for me now that he is back from GenCon. And I am doing the final edit of the final layout pdf tonight. So my hope is end of this week, early next week it will be available for you.

But I still need to make a final decision on the many interesting and instructive thoughts here.

Please know your feedback and comments really matter to me. I do this because I think it is awesome. But gamers aren't just "customers." That merchant-customer relationship isn't what I view us as having. To me we are all gamers together and so we are all equal and I really want to know what you think.

Liberty's Edge

Clark Peterson wrote:
Anguish wrote:

Interesting idea, but I don't want to see anything about Facebook on the "cover" of an RPG fantasy PDF. No forums, no webstores, no thanks. Go ahead and make a resources section on the inner cover or ToC or copyright page.

This is going to be difficult to encapsulate in words but my (poor) reaction I think is that modern-day references breaks immersion. I get that huge "Pathfinder" logos isn't really in-character, and an ISBN bar code on the back breaks art with books, but... I don't need more stuff reminding me about the Real World... the one I'm playing a fantasy game to kind of avoid. I feel... like a goof to talk about immersion in the first place, but as we're all gamers I think you'll understand what I'm saying.

Put all the crap on the cover you want that is in-character, but leave the external references somewhere we don't need to see every time we open the document. I understand the exposure the front cover presents, but... please no. I'll just have to fire up Acrobat and remove that stuff, it's that big a turn-off.

Final comment: offering negative feedback on your ideas isn't easy for me. I'd rather be an eternal fanboy, but this one I've got to comment on.

That is really some very fair commentary. I do understand what you are saying about immersion. And I agree, now that I think about it.

I'm going to have to give that some thought. I really do hear what you are saying and I appreciate that it is hard to offer constructive criticism. But I asked for it and I appreciate it.

I'd like to hear what others think. This thing is going to be live and available probably the end of this week so if people have thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

I am going to give this serious thought. I don't know what I will do, in the end, but you can rest assured I am taking your comments into account in my decision.

Clark

I have to agree as well. I don't think I want to see social media logos and links on the cover either. On the back or on an 'Online Resources' page? Sure? On the front cover? No, probably not.

Although I certainly like the idea of embracing what digital has to offer, I also kind of like the idea that a front cover is, welll ... a front cover, more so than a web page type of interface. As a graphic designer by trade, I tend to see things more from the Form side of the Form / Function equation and I think this front page might just be swinging a bit more toward the Function side for my taste ...

That said, I'm still really interested to see the final product!

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
deinol wrote:
Anguish wrote:

Interesting idea, but I don't want to see anything about Facebook on the "cover" of an RPG fantasy PDF. No forums, no webstores, no thanks. Go ahead and make a resources section on the inner cover or ToC or copyright page.

I have to disagree. For a product that is all about embracing new digital technology, pretending to be a traditional book sounds like a step backward. We have tons of PDFs that are just copies of books already.

I want innovative products that embrace the digital age. 0one games produces some amazing PDFs that take advantage of all the layers and options you can use.

On the other hand, a PDF that looks just like a web home page? I don't think that is innovative enough. Not that I'm certain where I want it to go, but computer interfaces have grown since the 90s. Haven't they?

I am kinda torn. On one hand I really want ebooks that take advantage of all the aspects they can offer over print books. But on the other hand I get Anguish's point of view and to a point agree. Perhaps instead of on the cover have it on the first page inside.


Glad my input appears to have some foundation.

I've been thinking about this all afternoon and I have some additional semi-developed thoughts.

First, who's living under a rock? Seriously, it's not like Facebook is a niche thing that needs front-page advertising for anyone to realize it exists. That Legendary Games is on Facebook, and that there's something there for this particular product... hardly surprising or enlightening in 2011. Anyone who enjoys social media stands a very good chance of having found the Facebook page already. If not, again a second-page link would suffice to enlighten anyone who never thought of it.

Second, while "embracing modern technology" is a reasonable goal, it's not inherently a good (or bad) one. The goal is to deliver a rich RPG experience to us. A link to Facebook (for instance) is nerdy and trendy as all get-out, but does it really do anything? Not at the gaming table, I'd think. Not after the first time a DM reads this, I'd think. Shrug.

Third - and this is the big one - links in a purchased PDF are as permanent as those in a book. The Internet isn't. Sure, Facebook is huge today. Sure, your current domain where your forum is hosted is the best choice today. What about tomorrow? AOL, Yahoo Groups, Geocities, MySpace, Facebook... all that's really different is that the last one hasn't been ousted as the favorite-whore-of-the-week. Yet. Technology moves. Things happen. Your domain could be different a year from now for any of a number of reasons. Point is that while links to external materials sound like a good idea today, there's a good chance they'll be like phone numbers scrawled on a public bathroom wall. "For a good time, you should've called Shawna a long time ago at XXX-XXX-XXXX but now that number's no longer in service."

Fourth, what really makes a DM/player's life better? The internal bookmarks and links in Paizo's Core rulebook are really, really, really, really awesome. Really. The books since without in-line clickable links... understandable, but they don't get all those reallys. That's stuff that's useful and helpful every time we open a PDF. Maps with optional layers to hide room numbers and/or hidden rooms. Useful and new technology. Good. High-resolution player handouts. Good. Fillable forms as character sheets or notepads or any other resource. Good. Well-formatted stuff we can copy & paste. Good. My point is... you're better of spending 60 seconds toward any of those pretty universally useful features than adding a link to the product's web forum.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. You have definitely made an impact on me. The Design Team also has discussed this today (via email) based on these comments.

My initial thought was remove the Facebook link. But more thought has me leaning to removing nearly all external links (I do think there is a benefit to our web site and to the PRD). Decision not yet final.

Thanks for the thoughts.


On the links issue.

I'd either have all relevant ones on the same page as credits and other technical/legal info, OR just have a link to your makeyourgamelegendary page and have the links to other pages there.

PRD links are great.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

After consultation with the Design Team, we will be moving the right hand links to the inside Table of Contents page and making that the home page. Same with the list of items.

In the end, I appreciate your comments a lot. Another big factor is that Tim's layout and the verisimilitude of the book cover is just too pretty and too well designed and it was getting crowded.

I think you will like the revised cover. Plus, we are keeping the same hyperlink functionality by just moving that stuff inside by one page and having that be the functional home.

See, we listen!

Clark

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

By the way, the publisher account is set up here at paizo.com and we will likely be uploading this Friday or Monday.

Stay tuned!

Clark

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Clark Peterson wrote:

By the way, the publisher account is set up here at paizo.com and we will likely be uploading this Friday or Monday.

Stay tuned!

Clark

Very cool.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

I've uploaded the final of the Treasury to the paizo.com servers. Once the Paizo staff reviews it, it will be live and available for you.

I'll post when it is.

I hope you like it. I took the advice here and moved the links to the table of contents page. We also included a "elder sign" button to take people back to that contents page from any page within the product.

Here is more info:

Link to Site

Clark


Very cool. Waiting to buy. One of the many permutations of my playing groups is about to align so I'll be playing Carrion Crown, so I'll be sure to gift this at my DM.

Liberty's Edge

The cover looks good - MUCH cleaner looking design!!!


Waiting ever so impatiently for this to be uploaded so that I can buy it immediately...

As I've said elsewhere, I generally avoid 3rd party content. Paizo provides me all the options I want, and quite frankly, they take up pretty much my entire "hobby budget." However, everything I've seen and read so far from Legendary Games has inspired me to make an exception to that rule. Can't wait to see this first finished project from you guys!

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Joseph Wilson wrote:

Waiting ever so impatiently for this to be uploaded so that I can buy it immediately...

As I've said elsewhere, I generally avoid 3rd party content. Paizo provides me all the options I want, and quite frankly, they take up pretty much my entire "hobby budget." However, everything I've seen and read so far from Legendary Games has inspired me to make an exception to that rule. Can't wait to see this first finished project from you guys!

Its already uploaded to paizo. They just have to review and make it live. And by the way JW, that is exactly the kind of exception we are hoping everyone will make (should they have that same rule). It really is one of the big benefits of working with the authors I work with--they are the same guys that write the official content, which makes it much easier for you and your group to trust that what we make will be tight and correct from a rules standpoint.

By the way, here is a little link about it: Linky Link


Clark Peterson wrote:
I've uploaded the final of the Treasury to the paizo.com servers. Once the Paizo staff reviews it, it will be live and available for you.

Will you be selling it at RPGNow & DriveThruRPG also?

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

LMPjr007 wrote:
Will you be selling it at RPGNow & DriveThruRPG also?

Yes, also at DTRPG. But I need to do a test run of their uploader to make sure I am doing it right :) I'm sort of a newb at this part of things. So it will be up on paizo first, then later this week at dtrpg. Not out of any ranking or prioritizing by me. I just have limited time, I did paizo first because I was working with Jeff, and when I have time later in the week I will upload it to dtrpg. So please understand this isn't some "paizo first, dtrpg second" strategy of mine. Its just the way it worked out. First products are just that, first products. I am learning the process and expect the second one to go faster :)

Signed, Clark the Newb.

Funny to think that after all these years there are things that are new to me about this, but it is true.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

Hey look at that! We're live and online. Product is now available!

Treasury of the Macabre


Clark Peterson wrote:

Hey look at that! We're live and online. Product is now available!

[rul=http://paizo.com/store/downloads/legendaryGames/v5748btpy8mu2/discuss#tabs]Treasury of the Macabre[/url]

You mean this: Treasury of the Macabre

Sovereign Court

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

i'm reading it now!!!

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

LMPjr007 wrote:


You mean this: Treasury of the Macabre

Thanks :) I fixed mine too.

Legendary Games, Necromancer Games

DitheringFool wrote:
i'm reading it now!!!

Please feel free to post reviews.

I hope everyone sees how important feedback is to us. Heck, this very thread caused us to re-envision some design choices. We take your feedback and comments very seriously. I view our products as an evolving thing, changing and improving with each iteration. I need your help, because in the end we make stuff for gamers and we want to know what you would like to make it bigger, stronger, faster, better.

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